Bloody Skies: A 15th AAF B-17 Combat Crew: How They Lived and Died

Little has been written about the contributions of enlisted combat aircrew members during World War II. Also, the importance of crew unity has not been sufficiently emphasized. BLOODY SKIES is the story of a Fifteenth Air Force B-17 crew that often flew the notorious Old Flak Holes & how they learned to respect & trust each other. Training made them cohesive; crisis & tragedy bonded them. They arrived at Amendola, Italy on the day their entire squadron, the Twentieth, had been wiped out by the Luftwaffe. That was their introduction to war. Ten enthusiastic, bright-eyed, cocky boys experience a fatigue & weariness so overpowering it seems to go deep into the bones. It is only their pride in themselves, their crew & their country that keeps them returning to the skies to face another day of that dreaded flak & German fighters. In spite of the horrors of aerial combat, they can still find humor in their lives & compassion for those innocent victims of every war--the children. These ten men, from the economic, cultural & geographic spectrum of 1940s America, represented the best their country could offer. Order from: Yucca Tree Press, 2130 Hixon Dr., Las Cruces, NM 88005; 505-524-2357.Melvin W. McGuire is the author of 'Bloody Skies: A 15th AAF B-17 Combat Crew: How They Lived and Died' with ISBN 9781881325062 and ISBN 1881325067.